Wake Me Up When September Ends

Well, boys and girls, it's back-to-school time, and shortly, the weather will become cooler and the leaves will turn. It's time to sober up, put on real clothes, and morph back into robot mode. And what will I be doing? Heading back to school in the hopes I will be able to secure a job where I can make a livable wage and that I enjoy. My boss, however, didn't share my enthusiasm. In fact, he thinks my new venture is direct competition against the growth of his business. But I'm not trying to spend my life living paycheck to paycheck, micro-managing my budget. As they say, "it's time to go big, or go home." And I think I've been playing in the little leagues for far too long. So, grad school, here I come . . . again.

I wish I could say my love life was as verdant with possibility, but what can I say? I met this guy online (yes, I know) and he seemed nice, actually, too good to be true. A young black man with degrees from Penn and Brandeis, no kids, a decent job . . . a seemingly good catch. Only there wasn't sexual chemistry. Our first date, it was great. We had dinner and drinks, and good conversation. But we really didn't communicate afterwards. A couple random texts. A couple invitations to Old City, which I declined because I was tired from work. So, I said we could meet up on Sunday, which lead to his suggestion to meet up at panera for a coffee "date." This time around, I wasn't as charmed. When I get there, he's already seated (which is fine, because I was running late and he told me he would be inside), but I saw that he had already ordered, and that was a little weird to me. It struck me as childish, because a real man would have waited for me to get there to order and/ or offered to get me something. But whatever, I ordered this amazing salad and mango smoothie. Also unlike last time, the convo wasn't nearly as sparkling. He was quite annoying, giggling like a schoolgirl during our awkward silences. Eventually the date ended with an awkward hug, and I drove off, knowing that that would be our last date. Yesterday he sends me a text saying he's not looking for anything serious right now, and that it would be silly to start dating someone after the second date. When I received it, I was disappointed, because 1) I wanted to be the first to tell him to beat it, and 2) if you're not looking for something serious, what are you looking for? As Gwen Stefani said, "I ain't no hollaback girl!" So, I texted back what I had to say, which you know was a mouthful, and went on my merry way. Of course he responded with some mess, but I kept it moving. So, I guess Lessie and Victoria won't be having those grandkids anytime soon. Ah well, after dealing with my crazy, pathological lying, cheating, ex who came with more baggage than an airport, I'm good on men right now.